The opponents of land rights: Cabinet

The arguments opposing land rights were put by the federal Cabinet, the Department of the Interior (dominated by Country Party concerns), and the Northern Territory Pastoralists Association. Peter Nixon, Minister for the Interior, set out Cabinet's opposition to land rights.

William C Wentworth, MHR, supported the Gurindji claim for land but he could not persuade Cabinet, which had offered the Gurindji access rights to the land they were occupying instead of title to it. [1]This intensified support for the Gurindji and land rights generally.

The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI), Abschol and the Victorian Council for Churches protested to Nixon. The Australian Council of Churches Division of Mission sent a telegram to the Prime Minister, John Gorton, supporting Gurindji claims for return of tribal land and requesting a government review of policy. Aware of the government's habit of seeing Communists as the main force questioning the status quo, Frank Engel added: